The Four Prisoners
by Axxed
Summary: Robert has been condemmend to Grimrock with 3 fellow prisoners,will they be able to find their way out?


***BEFORE READING***

- I apologize for every grammatical error in this story I'm Dutch so I only have the knowledge of my lessons at school

- Please write a review and point out the mistakes I made so you can prevent me for making them again.

**Chapter 1: Imprisoned**

As Robert walked toward the round hole inside the tower he felt sorry.

Not sorry for himself (the crime he committed was terrible) but for his fellow prisoners.

They all looked strong and capable of doing some serious damage.

The man chained to him in front of him (his name was Peter or something) was huge and muscled, the creature chained next to Peter was about the same but he had horns coming out of his head that were about as tall as Robert's legs.

The girl next to him didn't look so dangerous at first, but she felt dangerous as if she could rip someone apart by only looking at him.

Robert had been afraid all his life for everything, he avoided other people and always felt like a loner, he never tried to cross someone but never tried to become friends with anyone either.

So he felt sorry for his fellow prisoners to be more a bother to them than an asset.

He knew what happened to murderers, they were getting chained together and thrown into Grimrock, a huge dungeon with strong monsters inside.

Grimrock was found several decades ago by the king's scouts.

As it the huge round opening above the tower of Grimrock looked like an opening the king sent a group of knights into Grimrock to look if there was anything valuable or interesting in Grimrock.

The party was never seen again and neither the party after that one.

Since then murders where send into Grimrock and if they would make out alive and report to the king after they would be granted a full pardon.

His fellow prisoners seemed ready to go in Grimrock but Robert only felt fear as they approached the huge round opening of the tower.

They were accompanied by two guards and a man with a roll of paper, the man walked forward and stopped in front of the four prisoners.

" I hereby proclaim Robert, Peter, Minos and Elena to Grimrock, if you make it out alive you will be grant a full pardon for your crimes, if you die, may god have mercy on your souls."

As Robert walked toward the opening his heart stopped beating faster, he felt dizzy as if he could faint any moment.

He stood just behind Peter, trying to look inside the black hole in front of in.

Then he felt the guard kicking him in the back and the four murderers felt into Grimrock.

**Chapter 2: Grimrock**

As Robert opened his eyes he look right into the eyes of the strange bull-like creature.

'Minos I presume?' asked Robert.

Minos looked at him and grunted 'Get up and let's try to get out of here.'

As Robert stood up he still saw the chains on the ground, broken.

He looked at his hands and saw that the chains were no longer on them, same story when he looked at his feet.

Elena was sitting in a corner of the damp room they were in, she looked angry and sad at the same time.

'I think the best strategy would be to stay together to get out of this dungeon and try to bundle our powers against anything they throw at us,' Peter said in a loud voice 'than we might stand a chance to get out of here alive, so who can fight?'

Minos looked toward Peter 'I can fight bare-handed but I used to fight with a two handed axe when I was out there' Minos said while he pointed to the faint light coming from the ceiling 'but I don't know if there are any weapons around here.'

Peter nodded 'We better try to find out, I used to fight with sword and shield' he looked at Robert 'can you fight kiddo?'

Robert gave Peter a scared look 'I can't really fight I have never hold a weapon in my entire life.'

Peter gave him a weird look and moved his head toward Elena 'Can you do something?'

Elena simply lifted her hand a shot a fireball toward the other end of the room.

'Well I guess that's a yes, well let's try to survive 'till the end of this thing.'

Robert looked around in the room they were in, it was quite small and square but with a round opening in the ceiling wich was the hole they fell in to get into Grimrock.

One torch was burning at one side of the room, next to the torch was a gate that was shut.

Robert walked toward the torch and took it into his hand, the moment it was in his hand, the gate opened.

'Well if you can't do anything at all, you might as well hold the torch.' said Minos while he walked past him into the corridor behind the gate.

The corridor was only wide enough for two people to walk in it side by side, so Minos and Peter walked up front while Robert and Elena where right behind them.

The corridor was dark and damp and with only his torch as a source of light Robert felt really scared while walking in it.

As the group walked forward strange sounds came from further along the corridor but as it was dark Robert didn't have a clue of what the sounds were.

The sounds became clearer with every step they took, as if they were coming closer, and Robert felt more scared by the second.

A strange form stepped into the source of light of the group and stopped right in front of them.

'Can you hear us?' asked Minos 'do you speak my language?' Robert noticed that even the minotaur sounded scared.

The form came closer and stepped out of the shadows into the light and revealed itself as a skeleton with a sword in one hand and a shield in the other.

The skeleton first stood very still and then with a very quick movement he thrust toward Peter.

Peter evaded the move and Minos quickly tried to punch the skeleton.

The skeleton blocked the hand of the minotaur and swung his sword again toward Peter.

Minos turned around 'Take a few steps back, I need a run-up for this.'

Robert, Elena and Peter took a few steps back as the minotaur kicked the skeleton a few steps back, than Minos took a few steps back too and after that immediately charged head-first into the skeleton.

The skeleton was ripped apart by Minos's horns and the bones were all over the floor.

'I'll just take his weapons,' said Peter 'does he has other useful items?'

Minos gave the body a quick look 'Nope only bones.'

Robert looked toward Minos and Peter 'But what if there's more?' he asked.

Peter looked at him 'Well now we have weapons so we can defend ourselves.'

Minos gave a nod to show he agreed with Peter.

'Well I think this is not the only hostile creature in this dungeon,' said Peter 'let's try to be more careful next time though, I almost got myself killed with that skeleton.'

Minos looked at him 'Yeah it was really you who took all the risks.'

'Well,' Peter said 'at least he's dead, let's try to get out of here.'

As Peter and Minos took a few steps further along the corridor a sound of chains resonated.

The group froze, and Robert felt the fear coming back to his body.

'Who did that?' Robert whispered.

'I did' the voice came out of the left side of the corridor.

'And who is I exactly?' Peter asked.

'Pull the chain on the right side of the wall if you want to find out.' The voice sounded weak but confident.

Elena looked at the right side of the wall and saw the chain, she reached out to it and pulled it.

At the very moment Elena pulled the chain the left side of the wall came down.

**Chapter 3: Forgotten**

A little square hole was now in the left side of the corridor's wall.

Peter was the first to step toward it than he looked back at Robert.

'Come with me otherwise I can't see a damn thing.'

Robert stepped toward Peter with very little confidence and the two of them stepped into the square hole of the wall.

The light of the torch revealed prison bars with a prisoner in it chained to the wall.

The prisoner was dressed in a great silver armor bearing the king's sigil.

'Who are you?' asked Peter again this time seeing the person who's voice he heard.

'Ser Dylan, I was one of the four knights that was sent to Grimrock to search this place.'

Robert looked more closely 'I heard about those four, but that was several decades ago and the knights were never seen after they entered.'

'Several decades ago?' Dylan looked at him with great fear 'that long?'

'Yes, and what happened to the other knights that were with you?' Robert asked.

'I do not know, I was captured by the skeletons and brought to their king.'

'What king?'

'The king of Grimrock he created this place for himself to make experiments and create a powerful army for himself to invade our kingdom, you must get out of this place and report this to our king.'

'Wait, how do you know all this?' asked Peter.

Dylan looked at him, 'The skeletons took me to him and he told me himself, after that he sentenced me to life into this prison and granted me eternal life for my services to my king, I will have to suffer this existence in this prison to the end of time.'

Robert looked at him frightened 'Isn't there a way to get you out of here?'

Dylan looked at him 'Maybe if you get out of here and report to the king what I just told you, the king's army could get me out of this prison.'

Peter looked at Robert 'We should at least try that to get our pardons.' He said to Robert.

Ser Dylan gave them a confused look 'Your pardons?' Dylan asked.

'Yes, indeed we're outlaws.' Peter told Dylan.

'Well I'll forgive you your sins if you get me out of here.'

'We'll try, just hand in there we'll try to get you of there.'

Peter took a step toward the exit of the prison.

'Wait,' Dylan said 'the other knights were still alive the last time I saw them, it could be they are still alive too.'

Peter gave him a strange look 'They have been down there for several decades I think they're dead by now, only by starvation'.

'It is possible,' Dylan responded 'there are giant snails down here to, you can eat them when you roast them, and there is a stream of water at the end of the corridor, try to find a can or a jug and fill it.'

'Thanks for your help Ser' Robert said 'we'll get out of this just believe in it.'

As Robert and Peter walked out of the prison back into the corridor the fear left Robert a little bit and he felt braver as he walked toward his group.

'We heard everything,' Minos said 'I think we should try to find the other knights, if they are alive they could help us.'

Peter shook his head 'They're probably dead for a long time, I think we should completely focus on getting out of here.'

Elena nodded, so the group walked further along the corridor.

As the group walked along the corridor the sound of flowing water came closer until they reached the little stream of water Ser Dylan talked about.

Also two empty jugs were near the little stream.

Robert filled the two jugs and as he did he discovered a quite large backpack.

Robert put the backpack on his bag and put the two jugs in it, so the group would have water while walking in the dungeon.

Peter watched Robert as he put the backpack on his back 'Smart thinking there kiddo, but we're not going directly we should rest here a few hours and then get on our way.'

Minos gave out an agreeing grunt and the whole group sat down.

**Chapter 4: Stories**

'So why are you in here?' Minos asked while looking at Peter.

'Well,' answered Peter 'I kinda split a guard's skull with an axe while I tried to flee a city with a bag of gold from the local Inn.'

'About the same story with me,' said Minos 'only there were five guards, I had no axe and I had my two hands filled with bags of gold.'

Peter laughed 'What about you Robert why are you in here?'

Robert was already afraid of that question when they sat down to talk about their past crimes.

'I don't remember exactly.' He answered.

'What do you mean you don't remember?' asked Minos 'I remember every man I killed.'

Robert looked up at Minos 'I remember waking up, walking outside toward my village, my next memory is me standing in the middle of that village with a bloody sword in my hand and twenty guards around me, they accused me of butchering the whole village.'

'What village?' Peter asked.

'Nye,' Robert answered '217 people lived there, they said there was just a single survivor.'

Robert felt the look Elena gave him, but he ignored it, she probably just thought he was a freak of some kind.

'Alright well, if you did that you sure look more dangerous than you look.' Peter said.

Minos looked at Elena 'And what's your story?'

Elena looked at him but didn't say a word.

Peter gave Elena a weird look 'Do you understand me can you ev...'

The last words of that sentence were left out due to the sword coming out of Peter's chest.

Minos charged at the skeleton holding the sword and tore the creature apart when heading head first into it.

Robert ran to Peter 'Peter can you hear me?'

Peter didn't respond.

'He's dead Robert,' Minos answered and then to Elena 'can you please explain why you didn't warn him there was a skeleton behind him?'

Elena only looked at him and didn't answer.

Minos quickly looked behind him and then looked at Elena again. 'Can you even speak?'

Elena didn't answered.

Robert answered for here 'If she couldn't speak she wouldn't answer.'

'I know,' Minos said 'but her only looking at me and not answering freaks me out.'

'Well,' Robert said 'this place freaks me out so let's try to get out of here.'

'Alright,' Minos said he looked at Peter 'what do we do with him?'

Robert walked toward Peter and took his sword and shield 'You can take the skeleton's weapons.' Robert said to Minos.

'So we just leave dead Peter here behind?' Minos asked.

'There not something we can really do for him,' Robert responded.

'True,' Minos said 'shame though he was a tough son of a bitch.'

'Well let's move,' Robert said 'the faster where out of here the better.'

**Chapter 5: One less**

Now the formation of the group changed; Minos walked upfront with Elena and Robert behind him.

The small corridor had curved into two paths since they left the water stream, a dead end and a quite large room with three doors.

'All of these doors are closed, how can we continue in this dungeon?' Robert thought out loud.

'By knowing how to open one of them.' A form came out of the shadows.

Minos pulled his sword an pointed it at the stranger 'Who are you?' he asked.

'I am known by the name of Ser Christian I belonged to the party of the knights that were sent here.'

'We already met one of those,' Robert said 'Ser Dylan is also alive in this dungeon.'

'The last I saw of Ser Dylan was him being taken by a dozen skeletons, they did not kill him though but how can he still be alive?' Christian asked.

'The King of Grimrock granted him immortality for his service to his king but imprisoned him for life.'

Robert answered.

'I see,' Christian asked 'I guess I could ask the king to free him if I make it out of this place.'

'How come you're still alive?' Minos asked.

'I've eaten a lot of snail recently and for the water I went to the little stream just down this path.'

'Makes sense,' Minos said 'do you know how to open one of these gates?'

'I do,' Christian said 'the two other knights that were with me already past them, only the gate shut down in front of me.'

'Why?' Robert asked 'do you need to be quick?'

Christian looked at him 'It has nothing to do with quickness, only with a sacrifice, the three paths all lead to one central gates that can make you pass, it's just that one person needs to stay behind here to explain the rules to the next.'

'But there were three of you and four of us now, will it still work?' Minos asked.

'I think,' Christian said 'I believe only one person needs to stay behind doesn't matter how many people pass.'

'Well,' Robert said 'I guess that should be me, I'm not really an asset to the group, you'd have more chance without me.'

'You don't mind?' Minos asked.

'Of course I do,' Robert answered 'but someone needs to stay behind and based on the situation the most sensible answer would be me.'

At that moment a giant skeleton dashed out of the corridor the three murderers came out from and ran toward Ser Christian.

Christian quickly drew his sword and tried to hit the skeleton but missed.

The skeleton's blade cut off Ser Christian's arm and with a swift movement shoved his sword through Ser Christian's belly.

Minos threw his weapon on the ground and again charged head-first at the skeleton, but took Ser Christian with him in the movement and the three of them rammed through one of the gates.

Robert ran toward the three on the floor 'Are you alright?' he asked Minos.

'Aye, but the knight doesn't.'

He didn't the sword that in the first place went through his belly had been moved toward the left side of his body, and with his right arm missing he made quite a pitiful view.

'I guess you aren't coming with us seen the condition you're in, you're lucky not to be dead.' Robert said to Ser Christian.

'I can't die, the person that explains the rule of the gates is invulnerable until he passes the gates.'

'So if you die if you pass,' Robert says 'wouldn't it be a good idea if you stayed here?'

'Yes, I guess, you three pass I'll just stay here,' Ser Christian said 'also if you bump into my two other companions give them this.' Christian took off his ring and gave it to Robert.

'What is it?' Robert asked.

'My knight's ring, they will help you if you show it to them, they know it's mine.'

Robert nodded and passed through the central gate with Elena and Minos.

'So,' Minos said 'I guess it's only the three of us again.'

**Chapter 6: The Armory**

The room the party was in right now looked like an armory, the walls were filled with shield with two swords crossed in front of them.

Tables with crossbows and bows and other with bolts and arrows other tables were fighting scrolls were wide open on them.

'Well,' Minos said 'I don't think there's someone coming down here to take these weapons, we might as well borrow some of them.'

Robert looked at the bows and took a bow that was just long enough for him, he took an arrow and shot it at a practice target, he didn't even hit it.

'You'll need some training before you can shoot those like a trained archer,' Minos said 'I never bothered I only used this.' He held the two handed double bladed axe like it was made of glass.

Elena also took a look at the bows and took the longest of them all, she walked with the bow in hand, five arrows in the other, to the target practice.

She quickly looked at it and shot the five arrows right in the middle of them in less than 3 seconds.

'Not only a sorceress, but also a skilled archer,' Robert said 'if only you could talk.'

'I can.' Elena said.

Minos looked at Elena 'Than why didn't you talk to me when I asked you my questions?'

Elena looked back at Minos 'They weren't worth answering, let's go.'

Elena looked at Robert and smiled and then walked toward the door at the other end of the Armory.

Minos looked at Robert 'A sorceress, a skilled archer and a total bitch, our luck again.'

Elena didn't seem to notice what Minos said and she opened the door, but quickly closed it again.

'Why did you close the door, we need to pass' Robert said.

'There's someone battling a beast in there.' Elena said

'Well can't you freeze it or something?'

'I'll try.'

Elena opened the door, entered and threw a freezing spell at the huge creature inside, she turned around and signaled the rest of the group it was clear to enter.

The group entered the room wich was quite dark but quickly lit up when Robert entered with the torch.

'Thanks for the spell but that won't help.' A voice resonated from the dark.

'Let me guess,' Minos said 'another knight.'

'You are right,' a knight entered the source of light 'that stone golem is going to get out of that spell in about 30 minutes I need to fight it, but what did you meant by another knight?' The knight asked.

'We've seen ser Dylan and ser Christian on our way here, who are you?' Robert asked.

'I am ser Ben and thanks for bringing this good news of my other companions are they hurt?'

'Well, ser Dylan has been imprisoned but is alive and well, actually Grimrock's king made him immortal, ser Christian's arm is off but is immortal as well alive by the rules of Grimrock's game of gates.'

'Well,' Ser Ben said 'I must battle this beast so it will not pursue my companion knight trough the door.'

'Well come with us we need to pass, and the monster is now frozen solid.'

'When he will break free it will pursue us and I cannot let that happen, I am also kept alive by the rules of Grimrock by battling this beast, so you can pass but I need to stay here.'

'Also,' Minos asked 'is there only this beast in this room, aren't there any other creatures?'

The moment Minos said the words an enormous bat came flying at him and put its claws right into Minos's head.

Elena plunged forward with her bow and shot three arrows at the bat, but the creature kept his claws right into Minos's skull.

'Get if off!' Minos yelled, he ran head forward and rammed his head against the wall to get the beast of it.

When Minos hit the wall with his head a part of the ceiling crashed down right on top of Minos and the Huge minotaur fell on the ground crushed under the heavy stones that fell right on his head.

Robert dashed toward the fallen minotaur and try to take the stones of the creature 'Minos, can you hear me? Minos!'

Ser Ben put his hand on Robert's shoulder 'If the weight of the rocks didn't crushed him, the Bloodbat would've killed him, those beast don't let go, the only way to prevent them to kill you is by wearing a helmet.'

While saying this Ben gave Elena and Robert a helmet.

'Keep those on so you don't end up like him.' Ben pointed at Minos.

'Damn we already lost two of us.' Robert said 'can we still do this?' he asked out loud.

'We can,' Elena said 'I'm sure we can.'

'Well we'll find out when we go further into Grimrock, so let's go.' Robert said.

'Thanks for the helmets.' Elena said to Ser Ben 'If we find a way to get you of here we'll sure try it.'

'Thanks for the freezing spell, at least now I can get a little bit of rest, and if you find the king of Grimrock, kill him for me.' Ben said as the two murders walked through the door.

**Chapter 7: The king of Grimrock**

Robert felt comfortable while walking through the door, a sword in his hand and a powerful sorcerer at his side, whomever was king of Grimrock they would take him down.

He felt some grief for Minos, he had seen the minotaur as a valuable companion and a great fighter.

The room Robert walked into was huge, enormous halls carved out of the ground, with stone pillars at every side.

The stone pillars were all lined up leading to some sort of temple.

Robert walked to the door of the temple and then felt Elena's hand on his shoulder.

'Robert,' she said 'whatever is said in there or happens we should always stay together alright.'

'Of course,' Robert answered 'you're the only thing that's left of me at this moment.'

Elena blushed, than looked him right in the eye and kissed him.

Robert was surprised by this but followed Elena when she quickly went through the door after.

The two of them came into a smaller room with a throne in the middle.

On the throne was a skeleton seated in a thinking stance looking towards the ground.

Robert bravely walked forward 'Are you the King of Grimrock?' he asked.

The skeleton didn't move or speak.

'Answer me!' Robert almost screamed.

'How do you want him to answer, he's been dead for over three decades already.' A man bearing the king's armor walked out of the shadows from one of the corners of the room.

'Well, who are you?' Elena asked.

'I am Ser Arthur, leader of the group of four knights that was send into this dungeon, sworn to protect those knights with my life and to report to the king what was in this dungeon.'

Robert looked confused 'But where is the King of Grimrock?' he asked

Ser Arthur pointed at the skeleton 'That was once the Duke of Grimrock at least that's what he told me before I thrust my sword through his back when he turned around.'

Robert looked even more confused than first 'We were told from your companions that we needed to slay the King of Grimrock to get out of this place to report to the king, something you weren't capable of.'

Ser Arthur smiled 'I am very capable of reporting to king of this place, I'm just not going to do it.'

Elena stepped forward 'But why wouldn't you...'

'You're the King of Grimrock.' Robert said.

Ser Arthur smiled again 'Very clever boy, when I had slain this Duke person I asked myself why still be a dog of the king, while I could become a King myself.

'King of this place,' Elena laughed 'some kingdom you have.'

Ser Arthur responded 'Well this is just temporary, see my army is almost complete and when that's done I can take the king of his throne and become king myself instead of staying just a knight all my life.'

Robert looked at Ser Arthur 'And we should allow you to invade our homes to destroy everything and bring chaos to a place we love?'

Ser Arthur looked surprised 'I never said anything about destroying things, I just talked about overtaking the throne.'

Elena looked at Ser Arthur 'I can't allow this.' she said.

Ser Arthur looked at her 'And why is that?'

Elena looked back 'Because I work for the king I was send with three prisoners to know why not one group came out of this dungeon.'

Arthur looked at Robert 'Listen boy, maybe your friend here wants to stop me, but if you help me we can rule together over the kingdom.'

Robert looked at Elena 'You lied to me?' he asked.

'Well technically not I only didn't tell you anything about myself.' Elena answered.

'Why not?' Robert answered while he looked at her.

He saw Elena moving her lips but Robert's head hurt a lot he closed his eyes for a second.

**Chapter 8: Flashback**

_Robert looked at the new girl that came to his village, she looked nice and he wanted to know her better._

_From his home he could see her sitting by herself by the river, so Robert decided to walk toward her._

_'Hi, can I come sit beside you?'_

_'Sure,' the girl said 'maybe we can talk for a while.'_

_'I'd certainly like that I haven't seen you around are you new here?'_

_The girl looked at Robert and she put her hand on his head while with her other hand she pulled a shortsword 'Take this weapon and kill everyone in this village.'_

_Robert felt the spell on him and against his will he took the weapon, and walked back toward the village, the only thing he remembered after was him sitting on top of a dead body with four guards around him putting him in chains.'_

**Chapter 9: Finale**

Robert looked at Elena and now remembered 'You were the new girl on town, you got me in this place.'

Elena looked at him confused 'What?'

'You bitch, you put me under that spell, you made me kill my family.'

Robert charged at her with his sword and planted it right in Elena's stomach.

'Die, DIE!' he screamed 'You got me in here, you're the reason my life is destroyed, you put me through all this, all the things you said before we went in was a lie!'

Elena looked at him her tears running over her cheeks 'I never lied to you.'

The words came as hard as the steel that went through Robert's back.

'When I killed the Duke I gained his powers of getting in people's minds,' Ser Arthur said 'and there's no one to stop me now that you are dead and my army is complete, thank you for taking care of the sorcerer but I can handle it from here.'

And as the world turned black for Robert he felt so sad and depressed he was actually happy with his fate.


End file.
